The Death Tiger
by Shadow55419
Summary: Version 2.0, please Read, enjoy and Review :D order of stories in the series; The Death Tiger, The Tiger's Revenge, Tiger's Revenge II, the Judges.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Zoids, if i did this wouldn't be fanfic :P

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Chapter 1

It was turning out to be a very bad day on planet Zi, at least for a young five year old boy, as he ran crying to the ruins near his village. Some kids in his village had taken a liking to picking on him because he was smaller than average and couldn't really fight back.

The young boy had an unhealthy appearance to him, his arms weren't muscular at all, he was shorter than the other kids his age, and he was underweight, pale skinned and his blue eyes didn't have the same shine of a regular child. His black hair was cut just under his ear; he had a scar that went across his right eye from an accident when he was three. He ran into the ruins and hid for a while crying into his torn and dusty clothing.

Twenty minutes or so later he was walking around the ruins seeing if he could find anything to fight the bullies with, the boy walked over to a door he didn't remember seeing in the few times he'd been to these ruins, his curiosity got the better of him and he pushed the door open. He found a single pod standing in the center of the room; he looked around it and saw the panel attached to it. He curiously hit a few buttons and the pod began to hiss and the glass began to crack. The small boy took a short step back out of nervousness but never took his eyes off the pod as it continued to hiss and crack.

The glass shattered causing the young boy to fall backwards in surprise. Standing in the pile of shattered glass and wires was an Organoid with black eyes staring at him as water dripped off its nose. The Organoid's claws, throat, and the four slicked back spikes on his head were a smoky black but the rest of it was red. The spikes were over each eye and one on either side of its upper jaw. The Organoid stood over the startled young boy with a look of curiosity in its eyes.

"Well I found you, let's see if you're friendly," the young boy said as he slowly got to his feet and extended his hand to touch the Organoid.

The Organoid took a half step back, his metal toes dragging across the metal floor, before leaning forward and pressing his snout to the boy's hand.

"Okay, I guess you're safe since you came to me. My name is Mike Wolfgang Novis, everybody calls me Wolf though, even my mom and brother," the black haired boy said extending his hand towards the Organoid's claws taking one in his hand and shaking it slightly, "What am I going to call you though, let's see your red and black like fire and smoke," Wolf paused for a moment trying to think of a name, "What about Blaze? What do you think of that?"

The Organoid thought a second before nodding with a growl of agreement at the name. An hour after running to the ruins Wolf left with Blaze only a step or two behind him heading towards the small colony he had run from.

"Stay here for a minute, I'll come back and get you," Wolf said while pointing to a spot where Blaze could stand out of the way.

Blaze stood where his new master told him to while Wolf ran to his home in the village. When he reached his house, a small three year old boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and a blue line just under his eye as his Zi mark opened the door.

"Daniel, you need to come with me for a minute," the older boy said as he grabbed his little brother's arm.

"Hey, wait, slow down, your pulling my arm off Wolf," the smaller boy half screamed as his brother pulled him along behind him.

"Blaze, this is my little brother Daniel, kind of cute isn't he," Wolf said with a chuckle at the annoyed look on Daniel's face, "He hates it when people call him cute."

The young blonde tried to climb up Blaze's leg, only to slip as he got his foot on top of the joint. Blaze turned and quickly caught him by the collar before lifting him on to his back with a growl, as if asking "Is that what you wanted to try?" Blaze walked behind Wolf as he led him towards their house, Daniel was riding on his back with a huge grin on his face, like he never wanted it to end as three of them walked down the dusty roads of the village.

_'Wonder what's going on for dinner,' _the black haired boy thought as stomach growled at him.

They were about five doors from their house when the bullies that liked to pick on Wolf decided to show up. The four bigger boys stood in a line across the path staring down at the smaller boys and the Organoid from ten feet in front of them.

"Hey Wolf, where you been, and where did you get the big ugly lizard looking thing behind you?" one of them asked sarcastically while pointing at Blaze.

Blaze turned and put Daniel on the ground and gave him a nudge in a direction away from trouble. The young blonde slowly moved away from the group of bullies and his brother before running off in the direction Blaze had pushed him.

"His name is Blaze, and I found him in the ruins, too bad for you guys 'cause I don't think he would let me get beat up," the black haired boy responded sounding much more confident than he ever had before, he liked that feeling a lot.

Blaze let out a low growl from the back of his throat confirming what his new partner had said while widening his stance and lowering his head as if to charge the group of bullies.

One of the boys drew back his fist to swing and started running towards Wolf, and in the blink of an eye the charging boy hit the ground because of a tail swipe to the leg from the black and red Organoid. Wolf took off running to find Daniel with Blaze hot on his heels, both of them laughing as they ran. The bullies were all too scared to move until the Organoid and their black haired target were well out of sight.

When Wolf and Blaze found Daniel at the side of the village elder, the blonde haired boy was smiling away as if the bullies had never existed. The two boys and the village elder, followed closely by Blaze, walked back to their home. Once they arrived Wolf's mother had a fit about getting into fights with bigger kids while Daniel climbed all over Blaze like he was a jungle gym. Blaze didn't seem to mind it at all, he even had himself a laugh or two when the blonde haired child slid down his back and off his tail whether it was deliberate or not. Once everything had calmed down from a totally off day, Wolf and Blaze settled down in his room, Blaze curled up on the floor. Wolf sprawled out on the bed and fell quickly into a sweet dream filled slumber.

The next day the bullies tried once again to get Wolf to cry but, having Blaze with at his side gave him a certain confidence that he never would have thought he had. The black haired boy leaned against Blaze's red metal hip as if he were a wall and smirked at the comments being made as if they had no affect on him at all, this annoyed the bullies even more, and seeing him smirk sent the "leader" over the edge. The large boy took a step up and swung, Wolf easily ducked under the punch forcing the bully to hit Blaze's hip. The boy screamed out in pain as he clutched his hand.

"You're going to regret that Wolf," he screamed as he went into a fight stance.

The black haired boy simply turned his back and walked away instead of fighting with the other boy and getting his butt kicked while the others watched laughing.

"I think I'm going to call this one a loss for them. What do you think Blaze?" Wolf asked looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face. Blaze growled in agreement, with a slight chuckle to the growl.

"You'll pay for that," One of the other boys screamed as he ran up and tackled Wolf to the ground and began trying repeatedly to punch him.

"Blaze, help me out here," Wolf said trying to push the boy off of him while blocking the punches.

Blaze bent down and picked the bully up by his collar and gently threw him away from the rest of the group, this also sent the other boys running away for fear of what the Organoid would do to them.

From then on Wolf had more self confidence then he had ever had before, he started working out and standing up for himself and others, even when Blaze wasn't at his side. He stood up to the bullies without Blaze at his side; they left both him and his brother alone from then on.

Daniel followed his brother everywhere; he looked up to this new version of his brother. People started to respect his big brother for the helpful young man he was, and for his new found confidence in himself. Wolf was finally happy about the path he was taking in his life. He was also proud that his little brother had come to look up to him instead of looking at him as a coward.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two years after finding Blaze, a seven year old black haired young boy with a scar across his right eye was playing at the ruins near the fire colony where he lived, a recent sand storm had uncovered a large portion of a Konig Wolf just outside the ruins and the boy was playing in the broken cockpit with Blaze making sure he stayed in the cockpit and didn't get hurt.

"Blaze, can you fuse with this Zoid?" Wolf asked pushing finger against the screen in front of him.

*I can but I don't think anything would happen, this Zoid has been inactive for a very long time,* the black and red Organoid growled in response.

"Can we try?" the young black haired boy asked bouncing in his seat. Blaze was taken aback by the sudden excitement of the boy.

*If I activate it, you must promise to maintain it properly, I can't help with tuning,* Blaze growled in a low tone.

"I will, I promise," Wolf said bouncing in the seat even more.

Blaze launched into the Zoids core, and reactivated and reconstructed the Zoid.

"Blaze, it worked," Wolf screamed as the controls lit up and the canopy closed over the small child. When Blaze let go of the core and disengaged from the Zoid, the Konig started to act very strange, jumping and leaping around while growling angrily.

*Wolf, stop playing,* the black and red Organoid growled.

"I can't, it's doing this on its own," the blue eyed boy screamed completely terrified. The Konig Wolf simply shut down completely after five minutes of thrashing around.

*Wolf, are you alright?* Blaze growled as he flew to the cockpit, opening it using a switch by the left ear with one of his toes. Wolf sat in the seat with a grin from ear to ear and laughing like a maniac.

"That was so fun and I wasn't even doing it," he half screamed excitedly.

Blaze piloted the Zoid back to the village so it wouldn't act out again while Wolf was still playing with the controls even though he had no control.

"Daniel, come check this out," Wolf said dragging his brother out of the house like he had the day Blaze was found.

"Wolf, this thing is awesome where did it come from? Whose is it? When did it get here?" the young blonde asked firing off questions like a Gatling gun.

"Slow down Daniel, it came from the ruins, it was brought here today by Blaze and me," Wolf said still trying to get his five year old brother to calm down a little.

"So it's yours. Can I ride in it PLEASE?" Daniel begged on his knees hands clasped together like he was praying.

"Maybe, but it's a little wild right now," Wolf said scratching the back of his head.

"Aww come on," the blonde haired boy said morphing his face into those puppy dog eyes that no one can resist.

"Okay, but I warned you about it being wild," Wolf said in a stern voice, "Blaze, keep close, this thing goes nuts get him out of here."

Blaze nodded his agreement as Wolf started the Zoid. It stayed calm for a few minutes, but then started going wild all over again. 'I wish this thing would calm down, someone is gonna get hurt,' Wolf thought as he was thrown around in the cockpit. The Konig suddenly calmed down and the message 'A BOND BORN OF A CHILD'S WISH,' appeared on the screens in front of him.

"What does that mean?" Daniel asked as he pointed to the screen.

"I don't know, but let's try something," Wolf said as he pushed the controls forward. The Zoid leaped into a dead run pinning them both to their seats. Wolf pulled the controls and it turned hard right, he moved the controls again and the Zoid turned left.

"I think that message meant that the Zoid understands me," Wolf said with a grin from ear to ear.

Over the next couple of months Wolf taught himself to pilot the Konig to some degree getting as far as moving at high speed without falling over, learning how to aim and fire the weapons was the easier part. Daniel also learned to pilot some in the Zoid when Wolf was with him to make sure he could reach the controls. The Konig rarely allowed regular citizens to approach it after a few of the boys in the village found out it was Wolf's and decided to try and take it for a joy ride, it did not react well and injured them rather heavily. Wolf's mother would often send him out to various other villages for errands, he got quite used to spending nights out in the open desert and was quite happy to know that his mother trusted him with such a task.

When he turned ten a few years after finding the Konig someone in the village offered to help paint the large Zoid after the black haired boy had helped the man paint his home. Wolf quickly but politely turned the man down saying that if he decided to paint it Blaze would be help enough.

"So Wolf, are you ever going to take me for a ride in that Zoid?" a black haired girl with bright green eyes asked as the black haired young man walked by her.

"No rides Samantha, she's still too wild, every now and then I get tossed myself," Wolf replied with an apologetic tone and a small smile, "But you can come watch me practice if you like, Daniel is supposed to be sneaking out."

"I can't, I have to mind the store for mom," the green eyed girl shrugged.

Wolf simply nodded before running the rest of the way out of the village and finding his Konig and Blaze waiting for him. For a few hours each week, and when he wasn't helping someone in the village, he would come out to the ruins and run the Zoid around letting Blaze pick a few targets on the deserted buildings for him to shoot at when he was in a bad mood. Blaze would often fly over head to make sure the still young boy stayed out of any bandit trouble by warning him if they were coming.

Wolf was out playing around in the desert one day shortly before turning fourteen and a small group of bandits hit the village. The black haired young boy charged in head first finding a good high hiding place among the ruins and managed to cripple all the Zoids before stepping from his sniping spot, he deepened his voice and kept the video link off warning the bandits not to return or he would do worse than cripple the Zoids.

His mother and brother were proud that he'd fought off the bandits, the village elders on the other hand were under the impression that he'd just caused more problems than he'd solved. On Wolf's fourteenth birthday the bandits came back, he once again managed to fight them off on his own, this time damaging three of the four Zoids irreparably.

"Well done young man, you're a fine young pilot to take on so many Zoids on your own," one of the village elders said with a smile.

"I warned them last time that it would happen that way," Wolf said his eyes showing a deep red causing the elders to back away slightly, "And since I've fought them off a second time, I'm going to leave."

"You can't leave, you're the villages only protection," another of the elders said, "You have an obligation to your home young man."

"That's not what you said last time, last time you were ready to run me out of this village, now I'm leaving voluntarily and you're telling me I can't," the black haired young man shouted in disbelief, "I don't think you get it, I'm leaving, I'm taking Blaze and MY Konig with me end of story."

Wolf walked away from the elders and towards his home to pack a few things and say good bye to his family. Julie was not happy to let him go but her son barely spoke as he packed, even though Daniel was twelve years old he was trying his hardest not to cry as his older brother ran off into the sunset.

Wolf ran into the young black haired girl named Samantha on his way out of the village and said his good byes to her and asking that she look after Daniel since she and the blonde young man were apparently dating. She agreed and watched him run the Konig into the desert before turning around and running to the Novis house.

A week after leaving the village Wolf came across a bandit base and was invited to stay and train with them, the leaders name was Razor and his brother was Vailen. The young boy agreed quickly going against the many protests of his Organoid.

During Wolf's three years with the bandits he'd become one of the fastest and best pilots on the crew, outclassing most of the older pilots without help from Blaze. He also fell in love with a girl his age during the first few months, they spent every amount of time they could together after they started dating officially. Wolf had every intention of bringing her along when he left to join the military, but his mind was so fogged when he left that he'd left the young woman there.

Two weeks after leaving the bandit's behind Wolf and Blaze came up on Red River base, it was on high alert since he'd blazed a path through the field of defenses without a single scratch on him and without firing a single shot.

"What business do you have at Red River base?" the guard at the gate asked staring at the head of the large Konig Wolf.

"I just came from Fire Colony, I want to join up," the black haired young man replied without opening the canopy.

He was allowed passage to the main hanger where he was met with two armed guards to which he relinquished the pistol Razor gave him for two years on the crew and forty Zoids downed, he'd never shot anyone with it but his aim was just as solid with it as it was with the rifles on the back of the Konig. Blaze went to strike at one of them but Wolf called him off before he could get to the guard. They led him to the base commander, a tall blonde fellow named Rob Herman.

"Young man, why did you not answer our calls?" the tall blonde man asked standing behind his desk.

"My radio receiver was damaged during my journey, I never received any calls," Wolf lied as he simply stared right back at the man.

"What's your name son?" Herman asked with a smile.

"Wolf Novis sir," the black haired young man replied quickly.

"Well, consider yourself under my command until Headquarters has time to process your application and posts you where they see fit."

"Can I request that I be posted here sir? I'd like to be close to home as much as possible."

"I'll do what I can after seeing your skills. I would like to ask why you never fired a shot while coming through the minefield that is our defenses here."

"I also ran out of ammunition sir, a few bandits tried to swipe my Zoid with me in it on the way out here, never shot anyone before so I'm glad they didn't get the chance to open my canopy."

"I'd heard you handed over a pistol when you came in, I'll make sure that gets back to you," Herman asked with a chuckle, "I take we won't be hearing about that bandit group again?"

"Probably not sir," Wolf answered with a small smirk.

A month after joining the military Wolf was out on patrol wearing nothing more than his ID tags since HQ had yet to return any acknowledgement of his joining the Guardian Force. The black haired man spotted a familiar looking black and white Zaber Fang sitting just outside of the village. He made his way to the small town's hotel and just after checking in he ran into someone.

"Watch what…Wolf is that you?" a tall man with short blonde hair and green eyes asked.

"Razor, what are you doing here?"

"I came hunting for you, right after you left something happened, we'd better go sit down," Razor replied pulling the young man to a table in the corner, "Wolf, someone attacked the base, you'd been gone less than two hours, neither Vailen or I could find you after it happened, I was worried about you man."

"Is everyone okay? Are they with you? Did you bring her with you?" Wolf asked starting to panic.

"I'm sorry Wolf, not everyone made it out…" Razor paused to try and figure out how to word it without setting the younger man off, "Melody was hit by one of the beams that held the ceiling up, there was nothing we could have done, she didn't make it."

Razor noticed his friend's eyes beginning to turn red and he pulled the younger man out of the hotel in an attempt to get him away from other people since he'd seen this before. Once they were on the outskirts Razor released the black haired young man and took up a fighting stance to give him a target. Nothing happened, no explosion of anger, no attempt to attack him, Wolf simply turned around and walked back to his Konig tears falling freely from his eyes as he went.

Blaze piloted the Konig back to Red River, when they got there Wolf stayed in the cockpit and let himself fall into a pit of despair as he cried himself to sleep in the Konig's cockpit.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For the next month no one knew what was wrong but Wolf wasn't the same person as when he'd joined up, he was closed off, his eyes were constantly the color of blood and he said no more than a very rude 'buzz off' or 'get out of my way' to anyone who directed any comment or question towards him, if it wasn't an order he didn't want to hear it. On the battlefield he was ruthless, never leaving an opponent standing for more than five minutes and often continued to pound the downed Zoid after.

During a routine mission Wolf's Konig took a direct hit to the cockpit that blew the canopy open and threw him from the cockpit. As Wolf flew through the air he prayed to the gods it would be his last moments and he would soon see Melody again. When he woke up in the medical wing of Red River the nurses noted that his eyes had changed color and asked him why it happened. The black haired man was forced to explain that when he was angered his eyes changed color, it was a genetic trait that all males in the family carried.

"Son, when you came in here you were unconscious, doesn't that mean your eyes should have been blue?" one of the doctors asked looking at the medical chart.

"With the way I felt, probably not," Wolf answered with a chuckle before running a couple fingers over the old scar across his right eye, "When that happened the doctor said my eyes were red for two days and I was out cold for a day and a half of that," he added in a joking tone.

"Well you certainly seem in better spirits today than you have the last month so I hope it stays that way," the doctor said with a smile of his own.

"That's new," Wolf muttered as he thought back on what Razor had told him, he remembered it all, but he felt nothing.

"What's new Sergeant Novis?"

"I remember what put me in that mood, but…" the black haired young man paused as he tried to put it into words, "But I feel nothing, no anger, no hate, just the love I felt for the girl involved and happiness."

"We did a CT scan while you were out, all brain function was normal, maybe you're finally starting to get over what ever happened."

"That's very doubtful, what happened to her was my fault," Wolf replied laying his head back still feeling nothing of the negative emotions he'd piled around himself over the last month.

'_Why can't I feel like I should?' _Wolf thought as he lay in the bed.

After a few weeks Wolf started physical therapy for the broken leg he'd suffered as a result of the impact with the ground. Blaze never left his master's side while he was in the hospital and grew more concerned for the young man as his emotional state never seemed to turn negative, even when it should have. The black and red Organoid became even more concerned when during a mission Wolf seemed to turn into a totally different person emotionally when his eyes turned red for the first time after the attack that hospitalized him.

Wolf started seeing a psychiatrist on orders from Captain Herman and his unit leader. The black haired young man began to regain some control over his red eyed self over the next few months, he also found that his thoughts were clear in that state and that he could always remember what happened, but never the emotion attached to the events. While he learned to control the emotional outbursts he learned to change his eye color from blue to red almost at will without any emotion involved, which turned out to be a great tool in interrogations to psych out the prisoner. It would take nearly a year however to learn how to act appropriately without actually having any negative emotion towards anything.

"So, what were you feeling when you were floating through the air after the shot to your canopy?" the shrink asked during one of their last sessions.

"I felt at peace with the fact I was about to die, I prayed for it in fact," Wolf answered calmly and honestly.

"And your last thoughts before blacking out?"

"That is for me alone to know."

"I can't help you figure out what's wrong if you won't tell me everything Sergeant."

"I can't tell you everything, there are some things a man must burden no one else with, even his shrink," Wolf said with a small smile on his lips.

"Wolf, if it's something that may have caused this emotional regression of yours I need to know, I swear to you it will never leave this office," The shrink replied as he leaned towards the younger man.

"Alright, but I can guarantee you won't believe it," the black haired young man said using his thumb to scratch the scar under his right eye, "My first love and unborn child were killed in a raid two hours after I left home, I left them there thinking they would be safer, I was wrong, I built a house of negative emotion and lived in it for a month, now I can't feel the anger and hate towards myself that I should for leaving them, or any other negative emotion for that matter," he said in such a calm tone it made the shrink shiver a little.

"Your weren't wrong, I don't believe all of it, I know you were in this so called 'house of negative emotions' but you can't expect me to believe that an eighteen year old young man like you would do such a thing to a love and unborn child."

"It's not the whole truth, but it's what I'm willing to give of it doc," Wolf said before walking out of the office.

'_Why can't I feel hurt when I think of her?' _Wolf thought as he walked by Blaze in the hallway.

Blaze was outside waiting for his friend and master as he always did. The two went to the hanger and continued to work on the Konig Wolf's systems, something Wolf did more to kill time than actually fix anything. When his eyes turned red due to an emotional state the young man felt as though he'd drown in whatever emotion came through, most of the time it was anger but every occasionally he'd get hit with a huge amount of sadness when the triggering event happened while his eyes were still red. He eventually learned to control at least the anger he'd feel when his eyes were red and used that to focus leading to faster reflexes and a heightened sense of awareness.

During Hiltz's reign of terror Wolf fought with the army against the massive forces the red haired Zoidian had put together. With Blaze's apparent ability to remain fused to the Konig Wolf's core for any amount of time Wolf quickly made his way through the ranks. With as much training as he received both from his time as a bandit and when he'd joined the military Wolf very rarely used Blaze's ability, opting to have him fly over to make sure no one snuck up on him from some blind spot.

After Hiltz was killed in the Second Deathsaurer, Wolf went on to take out several crime rings earning himself the rank of Lieutenant before the age of 20. During the missions when all odds were against him and the rest of his unit Wolf walked away from every fight either laughing at the enemy or wondering why he felt no fear against the odds. The few friends he'd made in the short time he'd been in the military never knew about his emotions since to them he was just a good soldier with a hell of a knack for piloting the Konig Wolf.

When he met Van for the first time it was less than three months after the Deathsaurer, Wolf had been a Lieutenant for about two weeks and was on route to his first Guardian Force mission without his unit at his back. When he introduced himself through the comlink Fiona ran his file and immediately asked about the three psych evaluations the younger man had been through.

"I had a bit of a melt down you could say, it was nothing," Wolf replied with a smile, "Just wanted to be sure I wouldn't go bonkers at the wrong word I guess."

"Mike Wolfgang Novis, says here you're alias 'Wolf' is the one you introduce yourself as more," Van said looking over the file.

"Everyone called me that when I was younger, for about a year when I was six or so I actually forgot my own first name," the blue eyed young man replied with a chuckle, "I actually had to ask my mom what it was after the new village teacher told me to put my full name on my school work."

"That's not a good thing Mike," Fiona said with a stern tone, "It's not easy when you lose your name."

"I didn't mean to say it was Ms. Fiona, I just think it's funny now since it was nearly 15 years ago."

"No need to be so formal Mike, just Fiona will be fine," the blonde said with a sweet tone, to which Wolf only nodded.

"Would you mind not calling me that, my name to me and many others is simply Wolf."

"Nope, I'm calling you by the name your mother and father gave you when you were born, nothing more."

"Then perhaps the fact I've been called Wolf by my own mother since I was a year old might sway that thinking," the blue eyed man said with a chuckle, "And that it took her looking at my birth certificate to find my real name when I asked."

"Mike is still your birth name, your father must have used that when you got into trouble," the blonde woman replied adamantly.

"My father left punishment to my mother, he left everything to mom since he was never around after my brother was born, and he was the one who started calling me that."

"Well I won't call you by an animal's name, it's just not right, you're a person," Fiona said with a serious scowl.

"Is she always this stubborn?" Wolf asked with a chuckle looking to Van.

"You have no idea," Van chuckled as Fiona pouted near by.

All the while Blaze and Zeke were playing a short distance away from the group just having fun wrestling around with each other. The five of them traveled together for a couple days before going their separate ways for their separate missions. They would meet again at Red River base a month or so later and would agree to work together, Van even introduced him to Moonbay, Irvine and Thomas.

"So Wolf, what kind of combat training do you have beyond the military?" Irvine asked as the group was eating together.

"Just fighting off bandits near the fire colony and a few tips I learned from a few passing officers on my way out," Wolf lied before taking a sip of his tea. _'I can still lie, but I can't feel angry or bad about it, what is wrong with me?' _the black haired man thought staring over the rim of his mug.

"What about those moves you showed off when you first got here? I've seen the tapes of you dodging all that fire," Van asked running a hand through his black spikes.

"That was more luck than skill I think, I'd lay money I couldn't do it again without disarming the Konig to bare bones and lose a couple of the modifications that added weight to it I've made since I joined up."

"I find it odd that they didn't inspect your Konig, the report says that they only have your word the ammo stores were empty," Thomas said not trying to hide the look of suspicion on his face.

"They couldn't inspect her because she wouldn't let them Lieutenant Shubaltz, If I hadn't called her off she'd have crushed three much needed technicians," Wolf replied calmly seeing no reason act angry at the accusation, "She was a wild Zoid after all, she's only tame when I'm close, Blaze stays with her most times when I'm not to keep her from doing anything rash."

"You pilot a wild Zoid, you bring it in to a military base without a scratch from the defensive systems and you expect me to believe that the only training you have is in that wild Zoid fighting off bandits and playing around," the blonde haired green eyed man said with a most unbelieving tone, "Well I can't say as I do."

"Thomas, he answered your questions now you leave Mike alone," Fiona said with a reprimanding tone.

"I'm sorry Ms. Fiona, I wasn't trying to upset you," Thomas said in a rather affectionate tone, "or him," he added quickly.

"Oh don't worry about upsetting me, I've always heard you were one to ask a lot of questions," Wolf said catching his slip just before his little secret came out, "Fiona, if he wants to ask his questions let him, he wouldn't be able to tell if I was lying or not anyway."

"Oh yes I would, BEEK would tell me," the blonde shouted across the table.

"I'm wondering what that thing is telling you about me right now," the blue eyed man said with grin.

"It says you're telling the truth," Schubaltz answered somberly.

"See even your computer can't tell when I'm lying, Blaze never stays with the Konig, matter a fact if he's not on my heels I don't know where he is, the Konig isn't all that wild after all the time I've had her, she's just not a fan of new people, but I really don't have any other training," Wolf said with poorly hidden laughter causing Van and Fiona to start laughing.

"Okay so where is your Organoid then!"

Wolf was about to reply when the door behind Thomas opened to reveal Blaze. Using a little nod of the head and a twitch of a finger as signals as he'd learned as a bandit, Wolf told Blaze what had happened in a split second as the black and red Organoid walked quietly over behind Thomas completely unnoticed.

*Behind you,* Blaze said in a whispered growl right in Schubaltz's ear causing the man to nearly hit the ceiling out of fear and yet another round of laughter to fill the small room.

"You didn't actually have to do that Blaze," Wolf said once he'd regained his breath.

*But it was funny,* the black and red Organoid replied scratching his head a little, *Besides Colonel Herman wants to see you, and you left your radio in your quarters.*


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Two Years after the second Deathsaurer.

Van Flyheight was promoted to captain and married Fiona about a year after Hiltz blazed a path of terror across Zi. Irvine finally accepted the fact he was in the Guardian Force and held the rank of captain as well. Moonbay was still a transporter part time running jobs when she wasn't working as a researcher with Fiona in the Guardian Force, neither became full military members.

Wolf's brother Daniel joined the military shortly after he turned 18, which was around the same time Van got promoted. The blonde young man requested a post near his brother and ended up being posted at Red River with him and under his command if need be. Wolf had become good friends with Van and the rest of the crew, he'd gotten so good at hiding his inability to feel anything negative that his brother had no idea there was anything wrong and Van never figured it out. He had his suspicions that Fiona may have known since she was an ancient Zoidian, but she never said anything directly to him about it.

A 21 year old lieutenant in the Guardian Force on the Republican side, standing 5'8" tall and 150 pounds of well built muscle, his chin length black hair blowing slightly in the breeze, stood in the desert with a red and black Organoid standing next to him, both stood underneath a fully customized red and black Konig Wolf.

"Lieutenant Novis, come in please," a radio rang out disturbing the man's peace a bit.

"What are my orders Captain Flyheight, Sir?" the Lieutenant asked with a salute as he jumped back into the cockpit of his Zoid.

"We need you to check out a small village that claims Guardian Force members are raiding their supply lines, I want you to make sure it stops, full weapons use is authorized if deemed necessary, location is coming your way, and your brother Daniel is going to be your back up, and before you ask there is a reason for that," Captain Flyheight paused for a moment to let the orders sink in before continuing on, "It is your home village the complaint came from."

"Have you told Daniel about this yet, Van?" the black haired man asked a little less formally as he fell back into his seat in disbelief.

"Yeah Wolf I did, he took it about the same way you just did," Van said with a slight chuckle as he leaned back in the chair he was seated in.

"Have him meet me in the village; I don't think he could keep up with me in his Gordos, plus if I'm not mistaken he's closer than I am," Wolf said prepping to head off.

"I already did, and he is closer, but why do I get the feeling you'll still get there first?" the spiky black haired man on the video screen asked chuckling quietly. Wolf simply shrugged before cutting the transmission off.

"Alright Blaze let's get a move on, we're going to have to book it if were gonna make the village by tomorrow," Wolf said as he closed the canopy over himself and brought the Zoid out of its slumber.

Blaze jumped off the black shoulder armor of the Konig Wolf and began running just ahead of his masters Zoid.

Daniel Novis, now 19 and 5' 6" tall with buzz cut blonde hair, was already well on his way towards his home village after receiving the new orders from Captain Flyheight, he was furious that someone was attacking his village. He was even more furious that someone was impersonating Guardian Force members to do it, in the back of his mind he was praying that his girlfriend was okay. The blonde was pushing his Gordos to its limits and he was glad he had the reinforced joints and the like installed on it, as well as a few other mechanical additions to make it more balanced when it did get pushed, other than the speed gaining modifications it was the standard armor and weapons as any other Gordos.

Daniel was definitely making good time but he knew he still wouldn't beat his brother to the village, even with Wolf coming the further distance his Zoid just wasn't as fast. The Gordos had been his third Zoid during his time as a soldier. His first was a Godos that he stupidly crashed trying to keep up with his brother's Konig. His second was a Pteras that he flew into an enemy Redler because he ran out of bullets, that maneuver earned him a reprimand from the Guardian Force and a commendation from his commanding officer for heroics since he saved the convoy he was guarding at the time. His commanding officer finally gave him a Gordos to keep him from doing anything reckless, though that didn't stop the blonde teenager from trying.

Somewhere in the same desert Wolf began pushing the controls harder and harder, the boosters were running on red line, he had warning lights flashing on his console and alarms screaming in his ears telling him that the Zoid was about to fly apart around him, but he ignored them all and just pushed harder.

'_Why would anyone try impersonating Guardian Force? It's just stupid and why would they go after such a small village, it's almost not worth the trouble,' _Wolf thought as he put almost his full weight onto the controls as his deep blue eyes slowly turned bright red.

Blaze was now leaving a red fan of flames behind him as he flew threw the air next to his master's Zoid since he could no longer keep up while running, the black and red Organoid was concerned about Wolf's mental state as the Konig seemed to continue gaining speed.

Wolf's Konig Wolf had been modified for high speed and close range battles over his years in the army and a lot before, its boosters were back mounted instead of the on the back legs, the joints were reinforced, and it had several other mechanical modifications to make it more balanced at high speeds, including fold out flaps on the sides to create down force while the boosters were in use.

The Konig Wolf's legs were red with black gyro caps and armor; the main body was all red, its head was all black with three red stripes on the canopy, two running nose to ear over the eyes and the third running down the middle of the head the lower jaw was red though. It didn't look like much but in combat there was no match outside of Van's Blade Liger for close combat, Irvine's Lightning Siax for speed and Thomas's Dibison for long range bombardment. Wolf was well trained in the Zoid; it was his only Zoid, the one he'd practically rebuilt himself, the one he had brought with him when he busted through every defensive line Red River base had to join the army. The Konig Wolf was no longer just a Zoid to him, it was his child, a child he'd cared for since he was a boy and it returned the care by keeping him alive.

When Wolf arrived at his village his eyes had returned to their normal deep blue color and Daniel had yet to arrive so he decided to take a walk around some of his old stomping grounds. He knew he might not get around to many of them so his first stop was his old house where his mother still lived. She was quite surprised to see him when he showed up.

"I was hoping you would have called before showing up, I would have had your room ready for you, son," Julie Novis said embracing her son.

"Well Daniel is on his way, he should be arriving with in the next couple of hours, that gives you at least that long while I go brief him on the plan when he gets here, plus I'll probably sleep in my Konig tonight to keep an eye on things, I'm going to look around before he gets here," Wolf said half joking as he walked towards back towards the door.

"Well be sure he comes and sees his mother before leaving, after you're done with your assignment," his mother said as the black haired man walked through the door.

As Wolf continued to walk around the village he saw a few familiar faces, including those of the boys who used to pick on him when he was young and the girl that constantly asked for a ride in the Konig.

"So can I get a ride in that Wolf today?" the black haired young woman asked when she saw him.

"No rides, I'm on duty, but you can come and watch me trounce a few bandits if you want," Wolf said with a chuckle as the girl hugged him, "It's good to see you Samantha, Daniel will be here soon, I'll make sure he comes and sees you."

"You better Wolf, I don't want my boyfriend running out of town without seeing me," the green eyed young woman replied punching him in the arm lightly, "Even if it is to work," she added with a pointed finger.

Daniel arrived only an hour after Wolf did. He was met at the gates of his old village by Blaze and the Konig facing towards the village.

"Hey buddy. Where is Wolf at?" the blonde asked Blaze as he rubbed the Organoid's red metal jaw.

Blaze growled and pointed towards the Konig Wolf's cockpit. Daniel walked up to the Konig Wolf and knocked on its leg to get his big brothers attention.

"Hey little brother, how you been?" Wolf asked after jumping to the ground which caused a small dust cloud on impact.

"I'm alright, how is mom doing?" Daniel asked as he and his brother walked down the street with Blaze only steps behind.

"She is doing alright. She wants to talk to you while you're in town, so we're heading home for dinner, then I'm sending you to see Samantha," the black haired man said with a slight chuckle before turning and walking into the village.

"I guess I should have seen this coming, especially after I left without a word to join the army, but it will be nice to have mom's cooking again I guess," Daniel said looking at the ground as he followed his older brother, "And Samantha will be happy to see me, after a few minutes of yelling."

"There are my boys! It's been so long since I've seen you both together like this, and Blaze it's good to see you too," Julie said as they walked through the door.

"Hi mom, how have you been?" Daniel asked as he hugged his mother.

"I've been okay, still wondering why you left without a word, but okay none the less," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, sorry about that mom I really am, but if I had said anything you would have told me I couldn't go especially after Wolf left in a tirade when he was 14," the blonde said looking to the floor.

"Okay, that's enough about that, he was just following his big brother around like he used to as a kid," his older brother said before bursting out in laughter, followed closely by Julie and Blaze.

A few days passed and there was nothing from the bandits that claimed to be from the GF. Daniel's Gordos was posted at one entrance and Wolf's Konig at the other; it was still rather early in the morning. Both men had a private com link between their Zoids. They were talking back and forth about how they would deal with the bandits, when there was an explosion just outside of the small village.

"Where was that Wolf?" Daniel asked with pure shock in his voice.

"I don't know but let's check it out," the black haired man replied as he turned the Konig towards the explosion with Blaze running at the Zoids side.

"Yes Sir, lieutenant," Daniel responded as he turned his Gordos and headed towards the explosion as well.

When they got to the site of the explosion about a mile outside the village, they found three Command Wolves along with three Molgas; all painted the same color as the desert sand at their feet.

"Well I guess these are the bandits, what do you say we get rid of them before Captain Flyheight decides he needs to come out here," Wolf said with a smirk before opening fire on the three Command Wolves killing two of them and severely damaging the other on his first pass through enemy lines and finishing the third on his next pass.

"Absolutely Sir," was Daniel's only reply as he opened fire on the three Molgas destroying all three in one pass.

After the short lived battle, they pulled one of the pilots and got him to medical attention, so that he could answer questions when he woke up.

"How long before he wakes up doc?" Daniel asked after the village doctor finished bandaging all of the man's wounds.

"Who knows, but it will be at least two days could be more because he has a concussion that will take time to heal," the doctor said sitting down next to the bed the wounded bandit was laid out on.

"You'll let us know when he wakes up?" the blonde asked before leaving without the doctor's response.

"Daniel stay in the village until he wakes up, I'm going to see if I can follow the trail back to their hideout. Call Captain Flyheight and have him send back up for you, and don't argue if he says he's coming out here," Wolf ordered calmly as he and Daniel walked towards the Zoids.

"Yes Sir, and be careful big brother," Daniel said with concern in his voice.

Wolf and Blaze were walking the path that was left by the bandits as they came back to the village. He was having an easy time with the sensors in the Konig Wolf's goggles, he had left the village moving pretty fast while the path was clear to naked eyes, now he had to slow down a bit to make sure the sensors could see everything. He was also moving slower because he was getting further away from help and didn't want to fly in half cocked and lose the upper hand to a group that could easily be larger than reported.

After a five hour journey he had found the base and was sitting just outside normal visual range. He opened a private com link to his brother's Zoid back at the village to report in.

"Well I found the base; they have a lot more Zoids than we thought. I can see at least twenty Rev Raptors and ten Red and Dark Horns, a few Guysaks with digging equipment," the black haired man said calmly while his brother listened intently so he could report the situation to their superiors.

"Alright I'll let the reinforcement troops know your location and start heading that way myself, Sir," the blonde said a little too formally for his brother's liking.

"You can drop the military formality when it's just you and me Daniel, we are brothers after all, and don't send the reinforcements to me, Blaze and I are heading back now. Besides we still have to be at mom's house for dinner tonight," the black haired man said with a chuckle at his brother's groan as he turned his Zoid back towards the village.

When he arrived back at the village the brothers discussed everything and figured that the Zoids they took down that afternoon had only been a scouting party to see what the situation with the village was.

"Daniel, get on the com with the reinforcement troops and have them meet you and I well outside the village by the ruins," Wolf ordered as he and his brother headed back for the Zoids after dinner with their mother.

"You got it bro. Will you be headed out there before I make that call or after?" Daniel asked as he jumped into his Gordos.

"During the call, and thanks for dropping the military formality, I was beginning to feel like you didn't like me anymore," Wolf said with a chuckle as he jumped into his Konig Wolf and headed for the ruins near the village.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Twenty minutes later both men stood at the ruins awaiting their reinforcement troops that would not be arriving till the next day. At the head of those troops was Captain Van Flyheight, who had decided it best to come out and give the two men a hand.

"So why would you want to sleep in your Zoid? I mean it can't be as comfortable as a sleeping bag on the ground," Daniel asked as he settled into his sleeping bag on the ground next to the fire.

"Because, it is about the only place besides my own bed back on base that feels like home anymore," Wolf said as he settled into the cockpit of the Konig Wolf, and closed the canopy.

Blaze settled himself in on the back of the Konig Wolf between its shoulder joints and with a yawn fell into sleep.

The next day Wolf was awake before dawn as usual, he began to scan the area to see if the reinforcements had arrived yet. They were within sensor range but not into visual range yet.

"Daniel wake up, reinforcements are almost here," Wolf called out from the cockpit before the Konig let out a deafening howl that jarred his brother awake.

"How long do we have before they get here?" Daniel asked with a yawn while rubbing his face.

"About thirty minutes, now get your ass up before I have to come down there," The black haired man replied half jokingly from the Konig's cockpit.

"Yeah, yeah I'm up," The blonde groaned as he got out of his sleeping bag and starting packing things up.

"Alright, let's see how far out they are," Wolf spoke mainly to himself about twenty minutes after waking his brother up. They still had about ten minutes wait, but their reinforcements had left a few troops at the entrances and some of the weaker areas of the village and were still moving in their direction.

"Hey Daniel, turn on your sensors and see if anything is coming from the other direction, I'll keep my eyes on the reinforcements," Wolf ordered as he flipped the extra sensors in the goggles on.

He could have shot them from where he was if they had been enemies, Van probably knew it and wasn't worried about it, because none of the reinforcement Zoids were moving in a defensive posture. The reinforcements arrived ten minutes later and the two Organoids, Blaze and Zeke, had started to have a growling conversation between themselves that no one seemed to pay attention to.

"Okay fellas, what's the situation?" Van asked as he gave the two men a salute.

"We have seen no activity from them since shooting down the bandit patrol that came yesterday, and we know where they are, Sir," Daniel said calmly.

"We also know that most of our reports about them were incorrect or incomplete, they have more Zoids than what was in those reports, and they also appear to be digging for something I didn't see what Sir," Wolf added to his brother's report.

"Alright, what are your suggestions on what our strategy should be?" the spiky black haired man asked as he walked over to the Konig Wolf and leaning on its foot.

"Well to avoid major damage to their base of operations, we should try and draw them out so we can investigate later, then we wipe the floor with them when they come after us," Wolf said casually without the sirs and such.

Meanwhile, the men behind him showed a slight disgust at his casual attitude towards his superior officers.

"That could work but how do we get them all away from the base at the same time, Sir?" Daniel interrupted.

"Wolf, your brother is right; it won't work unless we can get a major portion of them away from the base," Van paused for a moment, "How do you plan to accomplish that?"

"Well, we send the four best Zoid pilots here, you, Captain, my brother and I, and who ever your best man here is," Wolf said confidently.

"We then open fire, across the ground near the feet of the Zoids, if only to avoid damaging any evidence against them, and they should chase after us, any stragglers can be handled by one or two of the reinforcement Zoids we have on hand while the rest are in battle," Van finished the plan for Wolf, who confirmed that that was what he was thinking with a simple nod.

"Well, we have our plan then. Gentlemen, move out, Wolf, Daniel, Lieutenant Armstrong, and I will go on ahead to the base the rest of you mobilize to the point half way between here and the base," the spiky black haired man ordered as he punched a few buttons on the controls in the Blade Liger's cockpit sending all necessary data to the troops.

All thirty of the reinforcement Zoids, Van Flyheight, and the two brothers were about half way to the base. They all stopped to drop of the reinforcements and head out with the troop of six Zoids to move on to the base. When they were at the edge of what should have been the base's radar range, the two reinforcement Zoids split from the group and headed off in a different direction so they would arrive to pick off any stragglers at the base without being spotted with the other group. After a total trip of three hours, the group arrived at the base to find it completely abandoned, no Zoids left and no digging equipment.

"What the devil is going on here? There's nothing here!" Wolf said as he looked around and scanned the area with the sensors.

"Are you sure this is where they were Lieutenant?" Armstrong asked as he too looked around the base in his Command Wolf.

"This is the location I transmitted back to you, I stood here and watched them for nearly ten minutes," Wolf said still holding confusion in his voice.

"Armstrong, call in the reinforcements, looks like we'll need the man power to search this place. Wolf, Daniel, and I will head in closer to see what's going on," Van ordered.

About an hour and a half later their reinforcements arrived and investigations had started all over the base.

"Captain Flyheight, we found something," a voice called over the radio, "You might want to get the research division out here for this one sir."

"Alright," Van said into the radio, "Armstrong, call the base and have them send Fiona and Moonbay out here, I wouldn't mind having Irvine escort them if he isn't on an assignment."

The man on the radio gave out a location within the base, and Van, Daniel and Wolf all headed in that direction.

Back at the Base

"Okay we'll be on our way within the hour, General Krueger, would you have Moonbay and Irvine informed of the situation, while I prepare any equipment that needs to be taken?" Fiona asked sweetly.

"Certainly Mrs. Flyheight," Krueger responded picking up a radio and calling Moonbay and Irvine.

The blonde haired, red eyed woman left the room and headed for the research labs to prepare her equipment. An hour later Moonbay and Irvine met Fiona in the hanger and they left with all equipment loaded and ready for use.

Later the next day, almost the entire research division was at the bandit hide out. Fiona couldn't believe half of what they were finding at this base. When they had arrived they were briefed on what had been discovered, and what was still in the uncovering stages. Van, Fiona, Wolf, Moonbay and Irvine were all standing in the room that the research division had been called out for.

"What do you think it is Fiona?" Van asked as she examined a larger stone tablet with a Zoids image carved into it.

It looked similar to the Death Stinger and the Deathsaurer, but it was also very different from both. It looked as if this Zoid walked on four legs, had foot locks and a tail big enough to vent a charged particle cannon, but also had plenty of secondary weapons, missile launchers, plasma cannons and other similar weaponry.

"This Zoid is called the Death Tiger, its charged particle cannon has a longer range than the Death Stinger's, it can easily wipe out an entire continent without so much as a second thought," Fiona said in a frightened tone that made them all shiver.

Van went to his wife and wrapped his arms around her in comfort.

"Looks like we have a new enemy to be looking out for," Irvine said as he ran his hand through his black hair.

Blaze and Zeke looked at the large tablet with a look of wonder and curiosity.

After reporting to General Krueger he approved the mission of tracking down those bandits and finding out what they found in the ruins.

"We all need to get on this mission immediately, where do you think we should start Van?" Wolf asked as he walked away from the com link.

"Well one of our surveillance crew spotted tracks heading towards the south. Since the village is to the north of here, we can assume that they aren't going that way. I'll call for a radar equipped Pteras to be sent in each direction from the base," Irvine said as he walked towards his Lightning Siax.

"There is one already heading to the village, have it fly south until the rest get here, and tell him to look for a lot of Rev Raptors and Dark Horns, that's what they had the most of, it will be difficult to hide them all," Wolf said as Irvine waved a confirmation that he had heard.

About a half an hour later three more radar equipped Pteras arrived; the pilots were briefed on what they were looking for and told what direction to go, and departed to find anything they could. Two hours after the Pteras that flew south was deployed, he found that they turned east, and notified the crew.

"Daniel and I will head for the village near where they turned, maybe the people there can help us," Wolf said with Blaze already heading toward the Konig Wolf.

"We all go, or none of us go, we run into these guys we're going to be in deep trouble if they start a fight," Van ordered flatly as he and Fiona headed for the Blade Liger.

"Yes Sir," Wolf and Daniel replied and headed for their Zoids.

Two minutes later all five Zoids headed towards the last known direction of the bandits.

Back in the village the criminal that was part of the group Daniel and Wolf took down had awakened and was being questioned by the soldiers still left as guards. He was not being very cooperative at first, but after feeling his main interrogator break both bones in his in forearm in one strike, he decided to be a bit more cooperative. After receiving medical attention for his arm, the interrogation continued.

"Where is your group going and, what are they planning to do?" the Interrogator asked angrily as he slammed his fist on the table cracking a couple of its top planks.

"I don't know, I'm just a patrol guard, all I know is where the guards were going to meet after getting the move out orders," said the guard, in a highly frightened tone.

Twenty minutes later the interrogator was on the com link with the six Zoids that were tailing the bandit crew, giving them the location and a few landmarks to look for when they got close. Daniel closed off the com link with the town and informed the others of the situation.

"Well lets head to the location we just got, and maybe we'll be able to stop this new beast before it gets started," Wolf said as he and Blaze turned towards the new location.

"I'm all for that," Irvine spouted as the Lightning Siax gave a growl of agreement.

"We'll have to figure our plan along the way. Did that guy give a time when to get there, Daniel?" Van asked as he and Fiona ran after the Siax and the Konig Wolf.

"Yeah we need to be there by tomorrow night, otherwise they leave without them," Daniel replied quickly while catching up to the group.

"Well, Captains shall we see who can get there first, or should we take our time?" Wolf asked Irvine and Van as if to challenge the speed of both the Blade Liger and the Siax.

"I think Daniel, Lieutenant Armstrong and Moonbay can catch up later on," Van said as he pushed his blue and white Blade Liger to its full speed.

Irvine's gunmetal grey and red Lightning Saix and Wolf's red and black Konig followed close behind as they tore through the sand dunes leaving huge dust clouds behind them.

"Those three will never grow up, I mean really taking off and leaving us back here half defenseless," Moonbay said falling back into her seat.

"Well, let's get moving we should at least try and keep up," Daniel said as he pushed his Gordos to its top speed, followed closely by Armstrong's Command Wolf and Moonbay's Gustav.

A few hours later the three that were left behind caught up when the others stopped to set up camp for the night.

"You guys are insane, I ought to have all your heads, leaving the three of us back there," Moonbay screamed as she jumped out of the cockpit of the Gustav.

Wolf, Irvine, and Van scratched the back of their heads as Daniel and Lt. Armstrong held the crazed black haired woman from going to town on the three men.

"Well, you three could always get faster Zoids," Irvine said nonchalantly as he leaned back on the Lightning Siax's leg.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After an evening of running from Moonbay after making fun of the Gustav, Irvine finally gave up and said he was sorry and everyone settled in for a nights rest. The next day they all woke up early and headed for the meeting point for the guards.

"Sergeant Novis head for that dune over there, it will give you a good sniper spot should something go wrong," Van said as he pointed towards one large sand dune, "Wolf head over to the other dune behind us, and get ready to help."

"Irvine, Lieutenant Armstrong, and I will meet up with the group here," He finished giving orders and everyone headed for their places.

"We have ten minutes till they show, is everybody ready?" Wolf asked with Moonbay's Gustav behind his Konig's left side.

"Yeah everything is in place, were ready down here," Irvine said as he sat back in his seat.

'_Now we wait again,_' Wolf thought as he too leaned back in his seat.

Ten minutes later the group of bandits showed up and immediately opened fire on the group waiting in the pit between dunes.

"Okay looks like they do know their own Zoids, let's go to work folks," Van said as he deployed the Liger's blades and started slashing down enemy Zoids.

"Daniel, open fire and let's have some fun of our own," Wolf said as he started firing from his sniping position.

After twenty minutes most of the enemy Zoids were either completely destroyed or under system freeze.

"Who are you working for?" Wolf asked one of the captured bandit pilots as he held the man up by his collar.

"We work for some guy they call Razor no one knows if it's his real name or not, he wants the Death Tiger to destroy and take over Zi," the frightened pilot said as he tried to break the black haired man's grasp on him.

"What are your orders here?" the black haired man asked as he tightened his grasp on the man's collar with his eyes shifting between red and blue as part of a mental psych out to make him think he was actually angry, "I'm keeping my temper in check for now, so you better answer."

"Razor ordered my group to take out the patrol and guard units before reporting to the base, It's two days west of here, they know most of our Zoids, if you follow us in yours just out of radar range, then I'll lead you to it, you've got a Konig Wolf the goggles can track my troops movements easily," the captured pilot said pleadingly as he was about to be hit by Wolf's right cross.

Blaze and Zeke stood guard over the pilots who didn't have enough time to get away, while Moonbay and Fiona kindly attended to the wounded pilots.

"Van, what do you say, if we do that its like Wolf said before, we might be able to get this finished before it even gets started," Irvine stated as if he already knew the answer.

"Well, how long before they start getting suspicious?" Van asked pretty much anyone who could answer his question.

"Probably seventy two hours, that's when our scheduled meet up is," one of the pilots under Zeke's guard answered.

"Will your boss be at this base, when you show?" the spiky black haired man asked now standing between Blaze and Zeke.

"We don't know, that's just when we pick up our pay checks and go home, our job is done," another of the pilots answered.

"Blaze, Zeke let these pilots go to their Zoids, any we froze or totaled they'll tell them the guards did it," Van said as he walked away from the two Organoids.

They did as ordered and let the pilots go, Blaze growled at a few just to make them jump.

After the bandit crew left the team started to discuss strategy, mainly how the five combat Zoids they had with them would take on a whole base full of bandits.

"Anyone ever heard of this Razor guy before?" Fiona asked from the back seat of her husband's Blade Liger as they followed Wolf's Konig through the desert.

"I've heard rumors nothing more," Armstrong said calmly as they trekked through stone and sand filled landscapes.

"I heard he's one ruthless bastard that gives no one a fighting chance if it can be helped," Irvine said in an anger laced tone as he too followed the red and black Konig.

The conversation between them went on till Moonbay noticed Wolf hadn't said two words since the man they were all talking about was mentioned by the captured pilots.

"Hey, Wolf you're being kind of quiet over there, what's on your mind?" the well tanned woman asked with concern for his mental state at the moment.

"I've heard everything you guys have said to describe this man called Razor, and I should tell you it's all true, he is no ordinary criminal, he will kill without second thought, even if it was his own son," the black haired man paused to calm his nerves and his temper allowing his bright red eyes to return to their normal blue, "He is cold and ruthless on the battlefield like me, but without the sense of honor for his opponent, and he also won't stop till he is either defeated to near death or he has achieved his goal."

When he stopped talking the whole group could see Wolf's eyes; they looked as though they were about to burn holes in the com screen.

"So Wolf, how is it you know all this? You sound like you've met him or something," Moonbay sounded nervous, she looked towards Daniel's com screen; his eyes looked the same as his brother's.

"We met him on the battlefield once or twice, we barely managed to beat him on both occasions," Daniel finally said clenching his fists around his controls.

"When we did beat him it was with Blaze fused to the Konig Wolf, and being pushed beyond all limits, I had more warning lights flashing in my face then I had ammo by the end of the fight," Wolf said in a strangely clam voice, one that sent chills down Moonbay and Fiona's spines.

They followed the group of bandit Zoids and reinforcements were on the way to help, the flying Zoids were already there, three heavily armed Pteras, and Rosso and Viola had come to help in their Storm Sworders. The main ground forces would not be there for a few more hours.

"What are we up against here?" a large red haired man asked as he jumped out of the cockpit of his Storm Sworder.

"We have at least fifteen Red Horns, and Iron Kongs, and possibly more, and welcome back to the front Rosso," Van said as he too dropped from the cockpit of the Blade Liger catching Fiona as she jumped down.

"You two still look like your still on your honeymoon," Viola said with a chuckle as she hugged Fiona.

Everybody kind of laughed at that and Fiona and Van's faces turned beat red at the statement before getting serious about the situation once again.

"Back to business, what is our strategy here, we don't have a lot of Zoids here," Rosso said calmly.

"Well we may only have 9 combat Zoids, but we have two Organoids and some of the best pilots in the Guardian Force here, and with Lt. Thomas Schubaltz leading the reinforcements, we'll have a pretty good force," Van said as he turned towards the Konig Wolf to get a status report from Wolf.

"We just have to hold out till they get here, hopefully nothing goes off before they get here anyway," Irvine said as Van started a conversation with Wolf.

"What's out there Lieutenant?" Van asked as he climbed up to the head of the Konig Wolf.

"At this moment nothing more than the fifteen men and Zoids we sent back and a few cars, Captain," Wolf said from inside the closed canopy. When the goggles on the Konig Wolf were down, whether or not the canopy could be opened, Wolf never did.

"Hey, Daniel, mind seeing where our reinforcements are at," Wolf said as he kept his eyes on the base.

"They're about fifteen minutes out, and moving quick," Daniel responded quicker than they expected.

"Alright then, let's start this rumble before anyone gets…" Irvine was cut off by a huge explosion in the direction of the base the bandits had led them to.

"Wolf, did any of the men we set free get out before the explosion!" Van screamed as though they were his own men.

"Only two sir and they only got out of the building, I don't know if they got away from the explosion," Wolf said with an audible shake in his voice to hide his calm from the others.

'_I almost forgot I can't panic for a minute there,' _Wolf thought with a small smirk.

"Irvine get over there, Wolf you too, see if you guys can find any survivors," Van was highly focused on his duty at that moment, "Rosso, Viola take the Pteras group and see if there are any Zoids or people nearby that might need help.

Rosso and Viola gave a quick salute before taking off, Irvine and Wolf took off towards the base while Moonbay and Fiona admired Van's attitude before being brought out of it when he told them to stay put with Lt. Armstrong.

"Hey Van, come back fast okay," Moonbay said with a thumbs up.

"When the reinforcements arrive send them our way, we may need a debris clearing crew too, so call that in, Daniel with me," Van ordered as he launched the Blade Liger into a dead run towards the base, "And have Thomas catch up, we can use his Dibison to help us dig."

When Van, Daniel and Thomas got on site Irvine and Blaze were already pulling any survivors they found out of the debris while Wolf was trying to get the fires out by throwing the sand surrounding the base with the back legs of his Konig. Daniel began to move the larger pieces of debris with the Gordos' mouth with Thomas helping where he could in the Dibison.

"Zeke, go give Blaze a hand looks like he found something important," the spiky black haired man yelled as he ran to help Irvine pull a survivor from the rubble.

The destruction was wide spread, every building that was there was either rubble from the blast's concussive force or burning from the fireworks caused by it. Blaze and Zeke were hard at work digging up something or someone who was under a lot of debris.

Out of the fifteen men they let go they only found five and whatever the two Organoids were digging for. Blaze let out a roar to get the human's attentions; he had found another survivor who was just barely hanging on. Van and Irvine pulled him out of the rubble with Blaze and Zeke's help.

Once everyone was a safe distance away from the base, the questioning started; even the bandit crew was asking what happened.

"Okay, so it looks as though your boss, Razor, wanted to get rid of any loose ends, he didn't want anyone spilling his plans to the GF or anyone else for that matter," Van said trying to calm everyone down including Fiona who was wrapped around him in a tight hug.

"Such disregard for life, why is anyone like that alive," Fiona sobbed into her husband's chest.

"How could we not have seen this coming, we should have seen it coming, I should have seen it," Wolf said dropping to his knees and allowing tears to fall freely from his bright red eyes his arms barely stable enough to hold him up.

'_Why sorrow? Why tears? Why now!?' _the black haired man thought as he pounded the soft sand a couple times with a closed fist, _'Melody, please end my suffering and bring me to you.' _

"I don't know big brother, there was nothing we could have done though, and even if we had tried we'd be dead now too," Daniel said as he knelt down to try and comfort his brother, but it was no use.

'_He blames himself, he really shouldn't, he had little or no warning,_' the blonde man thought as he stood and walked away to allow his brother time to get himself together.

Blaze stood next to his master and friend wishing he could do something to help him and even after a year of dealing with it, not understanding what Wolf was going through.

A few days passed and there was no sign of any new activity at the destroyed base. Most of the debris and rubble had been cleared and the blast point was found, directly beneath the room the bandit pilots said they were meeting in. The bandit crew was placed under arrest for the attack on the village and Guardian Force members, and other charges that mostly depended on the person. There was no new evidence to follow after a week of going through the debris and rubble.

"Alright, I think it's time we leave," Van said as the troops gathered around him, "We've been here a week and we've turned up nothing new, we will leave a team here to continue the investigation, other than that there is nothing else we can do here."

"Lt. Armstrong, pick your investigation team, you're on point here," Irvine ordered and followed Thomas and Van to the Zoids.

"Yes sir, we'll get to the bottom of this ASAP," Lieutenant Armstrong said with a salute before turning back to start investigating once again.

Ten minutes later, the reinforcement troops and the six Guardian Force Zoids left the investigation team and the work crew at the destroyed base.

"Hey Wolf boy, your awfully quiet over there, what's on your mind?" Moonbay asked through a private link to the Konig.

"It's nothing Moonbay, just thinking of the way that bastard killed his own men, and how badly I feel for letting them die like that," Wolf went quiet again but left the com link open.

'_Why is he blaming himself, it's not like he could have seen it coming?_' Moonbay thought.

"What are you blaming yourself for Wolf, it's not like you, or any of us for that matter, could have seen that explosion coming," she was practically yelling at him by the time she finished the statement, but her tone was also loaded with concern.

"Because I was under orders to keep my eyes on the base, I should have seen it coming just because of the attack on us in the desert," Wolf shot back at her, the look in his eye said to drop it, but Moonbay being the stubborn one she is wasn't about to.

Moonbay slammed the brakes of the Gustav to the floor stopping it almost immediately in the middle of the wide open desert.

"Moonbay, what's going on, why did you stop like that?" Irvine asked coming to a halt in the Lightning Siax, followed shortly by the Blade Liger, Konig Wolf, and the Gordos and Dibison that were still catching up.

"Alright get out of that thing, Wolf. I'm gonna pound some sense into you once and for all!" Moonbay screamed as she jumped from the Gustav her fists ready to strike.

Wolf had opened the canopy and jumped down from the cockpit before hearing what black haired woman had said about the pounding she was promising.

"What's in your head Moonbay stopping like that, we're in the middle of…" Wolf was cut off by Moonbay's right hook to the jaw. He was still standing, but not for long if the well tanned woman had a say in it.

"Alright, that was just a warning blow Mr. I'm Responsible for Everything! You've got a lot to learn if you think that it's all your fault when something doesn't go according to plan!" Moonbay screamed with venom in each word. Wolf turned to walk away, but was caught by Moonbay before he even made the first steps away from her.

"Oh no you don't, I'm not through with you yet. You've been moping around as if the whole thing was your fault those guys died back there, when none of us could have seen it coming!" the black haired woman said as Irvine, Van, Daniel, Fiona, and Thomas all took a few steps back, "Wolf, I don't know who you think you are, but you can't take responsibility for every bad thing that happens on your watch, some things are just unpredictable." She finished much calmer now that she had let him have it.

'_Why can't I be angry at her for yelling at me? Why can't I feel like I should?' _Wolf thought causing a silence to fall over the small group.

They all stood in silence for a minute or two when Van's stomach growled making everyone either fall over in laughter or in Van's case turn beat red.

"I guess it's time to get dinner started," Fiona said as she collected herself after laughing so hard.

"Geez Fiona, I thought you were supposed to stand by your man, not make fun of him," Van mumbled just loud enough to be heard by his wife.

"Hey Moonbay," Wolf called as he headed for his Zoid, Blaze at his side, "Thanks for the knock to the jaw I think I needed that."

"Oh you needed it alright, and you're gonna get another one if you do it again," the tanned woman called after him sarcastically rubbing her fist into her palm.

"Wolf, you know she's right," Irvine said leaning against the Lightning Saix's leg as his black haired friend walked passed him.

"Yeah, but it's hard for me not to take some responsibility, I took my eyes off my job for a split second and kaboom," Wolf said hanging his head and rubbing his neck.

"Well that's just a quick way to the grave bud, so suck it up and move on," the brown haired man said as he gave Wolf a slap on the shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Two months had passed since the explosion at the base. Daniel had returned to his duties as a presidential guard, Irvine had left on mission as guardian for a small village being raided by a small group of five Zoids and was due to return in a day or two. Fiona and Moonbay had gone back to the research department; Van was posted as their guard while they were at excavation sites and such. Wolf and Blaze had been assigned to Imperial guard duty for a flight into Republican territory while Rosso and Viola flew escort for the Whale King. This was his first time he'd played guard for anyone other than a convoy and the black haired man did nothing but his assigned task.

"So Lieutenant Novis, have you heard anything about the base that exploded a couple of months ago," Emperor Rudolph asked with a smile as they walked out of the hanger of the Whale King.

"No Your Highness, nothing new yet," Wolf said walking a few steps behind the younger man.

'_Why does he always have to be so friendly? He doesn't even know who I am or what I was before I was a soldier, but he trusts me with his life,_' the black haired man thought letting a smirk form on his lips.

"What seems to be funny lieutenant?" Rudolph looked at him quizzically over his shoulder.

"Nothing Your Highness, just thinking," Wolf replied as he and Blaze walked a few strides behind the Emperor.

"About?" the brown haired young man asked stopping in the hall and turning fully towards his guardian.

"May I speak candidly with Your Highness," the blue eyed man asked not wanting to offend the young Emperor.

"Of course Lieutenant, I encourage it in fact," Rudolph replied with a grin as he turned and leaned against one of the metal walls of the long hallway.

"Well Your Highness, I find it amusing that you would choose me as your guard, you don't know me personally or of my past for that matter, and judge me by my military record alone. I was just curious as to how you made such a decision, Sir?" Wolf asked as he motioned the Emperor to continue walking.

"Well, I hear many good things about you, you're a fantastic warrior on the battlefield and you are willing to give your life for any man under your protection, it is a combination of that and Van thought it would be a good experience for you," the young brown haired Emperor said with a chuckle as he turned and walked into the lounge area of the Whale King with Blaze and Wolf a step behind.

"So Flyheight put you up to it, sounds about right, doesn't it Blaze," Wolf said with a slight chuckle as he patted the Organoid on the back. Blaze simply growled in return before he walked over and lay down next to the Emperor.

"So why did you listen to him, Your Highness? It's not like you couldn't have said no," the black haired man asked as he sat down across from the Emperor.

"Well, he did say that you were stubborn and hard headed at times, but so are Rosso and Viola," Emperor Rudolph paused for a moment to look out the window, "It's because Van and Fiona both trust you with their lives that shows I can trust you with mine."

"I thank you for your honesty, Your Highness, and your trust in me is appreciated," Wolf said standing to return to his post at the door, while Blaze stayed on the floor next to the Emperor.

"Before you go, Lieutenant Novis, could you find out how long until we land?" Rudolph asked still wearing a smile.

"About two more hours, Your Highness, I don't always need to ask," Wolf said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the room. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

Two hours later

"Welcome back to the Republic, Your Highness," Colonel Herman greeted with a salute as the Emperor disembarked from his Whale King.

"Thank you for your kindness and hospitality Colonel Herman," Rudolph grinned, "It's good to be back here."

"Where is he I was supposed to be at his side when he disembarked!" screamed a young brown haired girl with a triangular mark on each cheek and a single dot on her forehead and a pink bow in her hair that came running from the Whale King.

"Miss. Marian, you weren't supposed to be here at all," Wolf said calmly as he put his hand out to stop her.

"I am his fiancé; I am supposed to be at Rudolph's side no matter what!" Marian exclaimed stomping on Wolf's foot, though it didn't seem to faze him at all.

'_She's got no idea that I'd willingly throw her over my shoulder and carry her back onto the Whale King if Herman told me too,'_ Wolf thought keeping his appearance from betraying his thoughts.

"It's alright, Lieutenant, we would be happy to have His Highness's fiancé. Lieutenant Novis, escort His Highness and Miss. Marian to their quarters," the high top blonde ordered as he turned to re enter the building.

"Right this way Your Highness and Miss. Marian," Wolf said motioning them to follow, Blaze followed behind the Emperor.

As they walked down the steel walled corridors of the base soldiers of both armies parted and saluted the Emperor as he passed by. When they arrived at the room that had been reserved for Emperor Rudolph, Wolf opened the door and allowed them both to pass through, before stepping over the threshold himself.

"If you need anything at all, Your Highness, just let me know and I shall do my best to get it," the black haired man said after the young Emperor found his room satisfactory, "Now, if you will both excuse me I must report in with the base commander."

"You have not been dismissed yet Lieutenant, you can only leave if you have been properly dismissed by the Emperor," the brown haired girl said in a huff, with arms crossed over her chest before he could get to the door.

Wolf turned back and looked to Emperor Rudolph, who at that moment held a very nervous smile on his face.

"You are dismissed Lieutenant Novis," the young Emperor said, mostly to get Marian off his back about it.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Wolf said with a slight bow before turning on his heels once again to leave, this time he was not stopped by Marian.

Wolf finished his check in with the base's commanding officer, and was now wondering the long grey halls of the base, Blaze a few steps behind him, after unloading his Konig Wolf from the Whale King.

"Lieutenant Wolf Novis, report to the main control room please," said a voice over the intercom.

A few minutes later Wolf walked through the door to the control room with Blaze close behind, and saluted his commanding officers.

"Captain Flyheight, when did you arrive on base?" Wolf asked while releasing his salute.

"Only a few minutes ago, we found a new lead on that Razor fellow, we want you to check it out before it goes cold," Van explained.

"Wolf, you're going to pick a five person team and take them with you, Fiona and Moonbay are part of that team because this will require the research division's assistance," Colonel Herman said while handing him a few files and a list of names, "Van will be another of them due to his position as bodyguard for Fiona and Moonbay."

"That means I'm only picking two men to go with us," Wolf paused to look over the names, "I want the two people on this list who have the best combat records, I don't care if they're higher in rank then me or not, we'll need them if Razor shows up and decides to get rid of us."

"Well, I guess I can tag along, but remember I don't take orders well," Herman said with a chuckle and walked to the communications area.

"Communications officer, get Major O'Connell on the radio we need him here ASAP," Herman walked back over to Wolf and Van who both had very confused looks on their face.

"What, you did ask for the best, and you already had Van; Irvine and Thomas are on assignments, so you've got us," Herman said with a smile.

About an hour later everyone had been briefed on the situation and loaded to move out at any second.

"Alright people, Lieutenant Novis is in command of this mission, we all take orders from him whether we like them or not, now let's get a move on," Herman said with a hand pointed towards Wolf and Blaze.

Everyone snapped to attention and saluted before walking out of the briefing room towards the hanger; Wolf and Blaze out in front, and all contemplating their next move.

"What Zoids are you and Major O'Connell using?" Van asked as they arrived in the hangar.

"I'll be in the Shield Liger over there, and O'Connell will fly aerial support in one of the black Pteras," Herman answered continuing to walk towards his Zoid.

"Once you're ready to move head for the main gate, we group there and then move out," Wolf said over the com link once he was in the cockpit of his Konig Wolf.

"Yes, Sir" everybody replied at one time as if synchronized, making Wolf laugh a little.

Blaze and the Konig Wolf were the first out of the hanger, followed closely by the Gustav and Blade Liger, then the Pteras and Shield Liger were last to arrive at the main gate.

'_I'm going to enjoy this, maybe a little too much,_' Wolf thought, "Alright, let's move out," the black haired man called out as he pushed the controls forward.

The group had to move slower cause Moonbay's Gustav was hauling a science equipment trailer.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The group was headed for a village about three days from the base; however the journey would take at least four with the trailer. After traveling what was left of the day O'Connell flew ahead a distance to find a suitable campsite, a place with good visibility all the way around.

"We can stop here and camp for the night, there is nothing on the radar," O'Connell said as he landed his Pteras.

"Okay, Captain Flyheight, you and I will take first watch," Wolf said as Moonbay prepared dinner.

"Well we've got four people, I'll take first watch, then I'll wake you up an hour or so after watch starts," Van suggested as he shoved some food in his mouth.

"Van, we need at least one set of eyes on the horizon and one set on the radar just incase of stealth units, I'll be in my Konig anyway so we both stand watch, Colonel Herman and Major O'Connell will stand second watch, then we can put the Organoids to work," Wolf said with a smirk.

Blaze had curled up on top of the Gustav, Zeke was under the Blade Liger, and both of them looked towards Wolf at the same time. Both let out a growl that showed they were upset.

"What? You expected to just sleep through the night," Wolf said with a shrug and a bit of a chuckle.

Later that night everyone slept but Van and Wolf as the cold breeze blew across the sand dunes.

"Hey Wolf, why put you and I on first watch, I think it would have been better to set the old guys on watch first," Van stated with hope for a small laugh.

"Well I figure the old guys could use more rest then the two young guns," Wolf responded with a chuckle.

"It's almost time to swap out; we've been on watch for an hour and forty five minutes," Van said as he walked over to Herman and O'Connell.

"Well, I guess it's time to go to work," Herman said tiredness still very present in his voice.

"Van, I'm sleeping up here as usual, if Herman wants some more sleep, let him have it," Wolf said after opening the canopy.

"Yeah and let you have all the fun Lieutenant, I don't think so," Herman said as he climbed up to the cockpit of the Shield Liger.

The rest of the night was uneventful. The next three days went fast, nothing major happened during the nights and they arrived at the village ahead of schedule because of Moonbay's creative driving of the Gustav. They were greeted at the village gates by a lot of people. They were all happy to see them and very pleased to answer any questions they had. The group had all the answers they were looking for after about three days of asking around. A lot of the villagers mentioned ruins nearby and a few mentioned that they had seen some suspicious activity out that way.

"I'll call General Krueger, have him send Irvine out, we might need the extra hand if this goes south," Wolf said as he headed for his Zoid, Blaze was, as usual, a few steps behind him.

"General Krueger, we will be heading to some nearby ruins, we would like to have Captain Irvine here so we have one more combat Zoid here," the black haired man said through a com link.

"He is already on his way, he left as soon as he heard Van and you were calling for assistance, which was yesterday so he should be there soon," Krueger answered.

"Thanks, we will report back after we investigate the ruins," Wolf said with a salute and closing the com link. Two days later Irvine arrived and the group headed for the ruins.

When they got close they all decided it best to stay out of radar range of any Zoids that may have been at the ruins.

"Alright, Major O'Connell, fly ahead and see what's out there," Wolf ordered as he flipped the sensor goggles on.

"Yes, sir," O'Connell said as he pushed the controls to his Pteras.

"There is nothing ahead, there is some equipment that looks abandoned," O'Connell said as he flew in circles over the ruins.

"Okay, we'll move in then. Keep us posted if something changes," Wolf said as he led the group towards the ruin.

"What can we expect out of this, I mean what's going to happen if this thing wakes up," Irvine asked on a wide open com link.

"Well, if it really is Razor, we can expect mass destruction in a matter of minutes, and an extraordinarily difficult fight, and that's just a regular Command Wolf with this guy," the black haired man replied in a calm tone that still managed to send a chill up Fiona's spine every time he used it.

"And with the Death Tiger, it will destroy anything that stands in its way, on its own it can turn a large city into rubble in a matter of seconds, and it can fire its charged particle cannon three times in succession before having to recharge," Fiona said shakily, "It is possibly the worst, and most dangerous of the Zoids we've faced before."

A few minutes later they arrived at the ruins, and Major O'Connell landed his Pteras.

The investigation went on for a few hours, the group didn't turn up much either, most of the ruins had decayed over the years, and there wasn't much left to even call ruins.

"We haven't found much, most of what we did find was broken or completely unreadable due to time in the open," Moonbay said with a disappointed tone.

"So what do we report to Krueger, that it's been five days since we left base, and we got nothing but a handful of questions answered," Irvine said.

"It will have to be just that, Irvine, we don't have anything new yet," Van was cut off mid sentence when Major O'Connell's voice came over the radio

"Sir, I've spotted a large group of Zoids headed east, should I follow," the blue haired man said in a calm tone which meant he probably hadn't been spotted by the group.

Wolf gave a nod to Colonel Herman before heading to his red and black Konig.

"We're loading up and getting under way, stay with them," Herman said running for his Shield Liger while the others ran to their Zoids.

"Let's go get these guys before that Tiger wakes up," Van yelled as the canopy closed on the Blade Liger.

"Major, is there a black and white Zaber Fang with the group, it will probably be leading," Wolf asked as he pushed the controls forward, Blaze running alongside.

"Yes, there is," O'Connell was cut off before he could give a full description of the pack of Zoids.

"Do not engage the enemy whatever you do!" Wolf screamed through the com link, "Wait for us to get there, do you copy?"

"Yes sir, I understand and will not engage," the blue haired man said with a shocked tone before closing the com link, "That was an odd reaction for such a normally calm guy like Wolf."

"Colonel Herman, will he follow that order to not attack?" the black haired younger man asked as he pushed the controls of his Konig Wolf harder.

"Yes he will, I have no doubt," Herman said as he too pushed his Shield Liger to its limit.

Van, Irvine, and Moonbay all pushed the controls as hard as they could trying to keep up with the nearly flying Konig Wolf.

"We're almost there, Zeke, mobilize," Van yelled as Zeke turned into a ball of white light and merged with the Blade Liger.

"Blaze, now," Wolf yelled as they continued to plow through the desert.

Blaze turned into a ball of red light and merged with the Konig Wolf. They got to the group of enemy Zoids, and began to open fire while they were still unexpected. After ten minutes of fighting, all but one of the enemy Zoids were gone, the only one left standing was the black and white Zaber Fang.

"Everyone back off this is my fight," Wolf said as he moved his red and black Konig towards the Zaber Fang as his eyes began to turn red and his whole mind filled with anger.

"Wolf, it has been such a long time," A voice came over the com links.

"Yes it has Razor, why don't you show me what our last battle did to that pretty face of yours," the black haired man replied with a smirk of confidence and his eyes shining red.

With that a video link popped up showing a man with shoulder length blonde hair, piercing emerald green eyes, and a deep scar from the outside of his left eye to his jaw, came into view.

"Well now, that scratch I gave you last time didn't heal too well, did it?" Wolf asked sarcastically with a chuckle as his Konig began pawing at the sand beneath its large metal feet.

"No, it didn't, and neither will any of the ones you're going to get here," Razor said with an all out laugh as his Zaber also began pawing the ground.

Major O'Connell had heard enough talk. He made a last second decision to attack the Zaber Fang while it was unexpected. He dove into the battlefield, guns blazing.

Razor easily dodged the incoming fire and jumped up to the now low flying black Pteras, all four paws of the Zaber Fang hit the cockpit area, and tore one of the guns out from under the wing with its teeth before jumping back to the ground the Gatling gun still in its jaws as it landed.

The Pteras hit the ground hard and slid for nearly a hundred yards. The impact of the paws had broken the glass, and the impact with the ground had done more damage than any of the group thought possible. The wings were ripped off like paper, the body badly damaged and the armor ripped away or heavily dented where there were pieces still in place.

"O'Connell!" Herman screamed as he ran his Shield Liger towards the downed Pteras forming a small dust cloud when the large Zoid slid to a stop near the downed Zoid.

Time seemed to stop for all of them; Wolf held his enraged red eyed glare on Razor so he wouldn't get away without a fight. Van and Irvine were now itching to get this fight over with and throw Razor under the dirt. Moonbay and Fiona rushed the Gustav to O'Connell as well.

"Well, I guess that was a dumb idea," O'Connell choked out after Herman pulled him from what was left of the cockpit.

He was in bad shape, he had a broken arm and a huge gash on his head causing his blue hair to turn red as the blood seeped from the wound, he had a massive hole in his stomach as well and that was just what could be seen.

"I guess I won't be in this fight anymore, huh," the blue haired man struggled to get his words out; the pain he was in was obvious.

"What were you thinking, O'Connell, Lieutenant Wolf told us all to stay out of this fight," Herman said concern plastered on his face and deep in his voice.

'_Why would he do that? I told them to stay out of it, what was he thinking?_' Wolf thought as his glare intensified at Razor.

"Let's get this over with!" the black haired man finally screamed as he launched his Zoid towards Razor the Konig growling loudly as they charged across the sand.

"Your funeral old friend," Razor said calmly as he too lunged his Zaber towards the Konig Wolf.

The two Zoids collided with each other, causing them both to fall back slightly. When they charged again, Wolf fired his back mounted sniper rifles causing the Zaber Fang to stop cold before he clamped the jaws of the Konig onto the Zaber's neck, which caused it to let out a pained roar. The two Zoid pilots fought hard for twenty minutes, neither seemed to gain any ground over the other, then the two Zoids went into a standoff.

"Blaze, leave now, I'll finish this fight on my own, I don't want you to get hurt," Wolf said, his eyes still bright red. Blaze growled in disagreement, "Now Blaze!"

Blaze reluctantly defused with the Konig Wolf landing near O'Connell, who was barely hanging on, and the others who were frantically trying to help him.

"Wolf, you know better than to fight me without Blaze, you never could win without him," the green eyed man said turning his Zaber Fang's back towards his enemy.

"You know better than that, don't forget I nearly killed you last time we fought," Wolf said calmly as he stared at the Zaber's rear legs.

Both Zoids went into a dead run the Konig Wolf, being the faster due to Wolf's upgrades, easily caught up to the Zaber and leaped onto its back and started to rip it apart. The Zaber Fang fell to the ground, and Razor saw 'Combat System Freeze' flash across his screen before it exploded.

"Okay, you've learned to take advantage of the moment, even though I gave you that one," the blonde haired green eyed man said with his head hung low and a smirk on his lips.

"Gave nothing, you thought I would best you and you tried to leave, you've done it before Razor," Wolf said with pure hate in his tone, "This time I just didn't let you leave."

Both pilots opened their cockpits Razor jumped out and started to run away from his potential captures, Wolf giving chase in the Konig.

"Wolf get over here now, O'Connell is in rough shape," Van's somber voice called through a radio link.

Wolf ran to Major O'Connell and the others, not caring he'd just let a criminal go. By the time he made it to the group all their faces were somber and heads held low, Fiona was clinging to Van and seemed to be crying. Herman slammed his fist to the ground several times, Irvine and Moonbay just stood quietly. Blaze and Zeke were in a similar stance, standing tall but heads held low. Wolf immediately knew what had happened and let out a howl that could scare a lion away before he fell to his knees with tears in his bright red eyes, while the others remained quiet.

'_Why so much sorrow? Why can't I feel hate long enough to kill that bastard?'_ Wolf thought as he looked at the sand hiding his red eyes from Van and the others.

A few days later they arrived at the base and a funeral was held, O'Connell was buried with full military honors. The republican flag was folded and handed to his closest family member, a blue haired girl wearing all black. Speeches and all were given and everyone went back to work trying to find the man who was responsible.

Many miles away Razor stood in front of a large containment tank similar to that of the Deathsaurer and Death Stinger.

"Awaken, Death Tiger," He said calmly as the doors opened and the Zoids eyes began to glow a blood red color.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Death Tiger's entire body, legs, head and tail were all blood red, its claws and fangs were silver. "Magnificent," was all Razor could say as the Zoid that was near the size of the Death Stinger in length but near twice its height.

Back at Base

The group was in the briefing room, preparing for anything they would face against the Death Tiger.

"The Death Tiger is the fastest of the Death Zoids, nearly twice as fast as the Death Stinger was," Fiona stated pointing to pictures of the stone tablet found at the first base, "Because it is larger than the Death Stinger its charged particle gun has a longer range, but it can also change its direction at will, but only ninety degrees on either side of center because of its foot locks making it more vulnerable to attack from behind."

"We can't use our usual tactics against this Zoid, The gravity cannon and the Ultrasaurus are both still operational, but the gravity cannon would be useless against its speed," Herman stated in a calm voice, "The only Zoids we can count on are those belonging to Irvine, Van and Wolf, they are the only Zoids we have that are fast enough to keep up with the Death Tiger's speed, Colonel Schubaltz, the floor is yours."

"What we plan to do is surround the Zoid with three battalions of sleeper Zoids, Rev Raptors and Guysacks will make up the main forces, but this is only to try and limit its movement, this is when Wolf, Irvine and Van will move in and attack using whatever means necessary to finish him off," Karl, a tall blonde haired green eyed man, said as he walked back to his seat.

"Let's get a move on. We have to find a way to track this thing, it's moving too fast for the Pteras we sent out is having trouble keeping up," Thomas Schubaltz said as they all stood and left the room.

"Hey call up Rosso and Viola have them tail it, they shouldn't have any trouble in the Storm Sworders," Van said as he turned towards the hanger to ready the Blade Liger.

Zeke, Irvine, Wolf and Blaze followed behind Van while the rest went to the main control room and got to work on contacting Rosso and Viola.

"The Konig Wolf will need the most work, it got pretty beat up in that fight with Razor," Van told the repair crew that had assembled near the Zoids,

"You three help Wolf and get it fixed as soon as possible," Van said pointing out three of the crew who then followed Wolf to his Zoid.

"I need two guys to help me out with the right front and left rear legs on the Siax," Irvine said motioning to two of the men who followed him to the Zoid. There were seven men left standing, and awaiting orders.

"I will need two of you to help me out," Van paused, "The rest of you can help out wherever needed, meaning the Konig,"

The modifications and repairs to the Lightning Siax and Blade Liger were finished by the end of the night; however most of the crew was working on the Konig Wolf to finish repairs on it. When they finally got finished it was two o'clock in the morning. Van and Irvine slept leaning against the foot of the Lightning Siax, Wolf managed to make it on top of the Konig's paw before falling asleep.

'_How can they sleep this way, I never understood that,_' Thomas thought as he stood over Van and Irvine, and looked over to Wolf.

"Hey you three wake up its time to go to work, The sleeper units are in place, and the Death Tiger is heading right for them, there is a Gojulas unit and a Command Wolf unit on the way as well," Thomas said as the three men stretched out and began climbing into their cockpits.

Zeke and Blaze fused with their master's Zoids before leaving the base.

"We've arrived outside the sleeper ring, the Gojulas and Command Wolf units have not yet arrived," Wolf informed the base as they stood in the middle of a desert with nothing in sight but recently moved sand.

"Lieutenant Novis there is a single Gordos with the Command Wolf unit. You should also know that they can't keep up with it, so they will be there. Just hold this guy off till they get there," Colonel Herman said in a proud tone of voice.

"Will do, Sir," Wolf said with a salute just before closing the com link.

"Okay all we have to do is get behind that," Van was cut off when the sleeper unit exploded out of the sand in front of them began firing at the Death Tiger.

"Let's go to work," Irvine said with a smirk.

"The Gojulas unit is still five minutes away; the Command Wolf unit is only two. You must hold out!" Schubaltz called out over the radio as he watched the battle raging on.

"Open season lets have fried tiger tonight," Van called out as he moved in for a blade attack.

"Now, now boys shouldn't we all just get along," Razor's face came over the video com link as the Death Tiger let out a deafening roar.

"Nope, I want this done and over with," Wolf yelled as he opened fire directly at the tiger's face his eyes shining bright red his mind filled only with hate and anger as shelling started to rain down on the large Zoid.

'_Maybe this time I'll kill him,' _the black haired man thought as he continued to fire at the tiger's face, _'Or better yet, he'll kill me.' _

The Command Wolves and Daniel had arrived. After three minutes of heavy combat, that tried all the pilots, the Gojulas unit arrived on the battle field, the missiles from the Death Tiger causing craters through out the cliff faces and desert sand as they opened fire.

"What is the situation?" Herman asked the leader of the Gojulas unit.

"Most of the Command Wolf units are down, and the sleeper units are all out, Sir," the soldier replied as he joined the fight firing the super cannons mounted on the back of his Gojulas.

"The charged particle cannon is about to go off, everyone get out of the way!" Van screamed as the familiar charging sound and the slams of the foot locks hitting the ground were heard.

Van and Irvine went down the right side, Wolf and Daniel down the left to try and get behind it. As they arrived at its back half, it fired the Charged Particle Cannon, destroying what was left of the Command Wolves and most of the Gojulas unit.

Daniel charged his Gordos and rammed into the back left leg causing it to buckle from the unexpected impact, thus causing the particle beam to point in a more harmless direction.

When Razor recovered from the impact he turned the Death Tiger towards the group and fired again, and once again the whole team managed to dodge the beam in time, Daniel just barely missing it, as he ran past the large Zoid's mouth.

"Daniel hit him again, but go for the right front," Wolf ordered as he fired on the tiger's missile packs hoping to detonate whatever missiles it had left and do some damage to the thick blood red armor.

"Yes, Sir," Daniel said as he dove through the back legs, this maneuver almost made it look like he was piloting a Command Wolf instead of a Gordos, and rammed the front leg as hard as he could manage.

This caused the Death Tiger's front paw to leave the ground, which sent the whole thing to the ground since the foot lock had just disengaged.

Wolf then jumped his Konig on to the Death Tiger's back and started using the electron bite fangs and strike claws of his Zoid to rip holes into the armor.

"Well now, this could be too much for me right now," Razor said to himself from within the cockpit of the Death Tiger.

He pushed the controls which got the Death Tiger back on its feet; it also threw the Konig Wolf off its back and nearly trampled the Gordos that was still under its back half. The red and black Konig managed to land with a solid thud on its feet and continued to aim for the missile packs on the shoulders of the larger foe. The Gordos tumbled a few hundred feet, but was quickly brought back to its feet by its blonde haired pilot.

"Thomas, get your Dibison out here," Van ordered through the com link as he opened fire on the tiger with his blade mounted cannons.

"He's already on his way, should be there any second," Karl Schubaltz said though the radio.

The Dibison fired its Megalomax straight at the Death Tiger as it continued to run towards the fight.

"Oh, no you don't," Razor screamed as he dodged left and fired the Charged Particle Cannon.

"I'm out of here," Thomas said as he ran passed the Death Tiger to get out of the firing range.

"Okay, let try this again," Daniel said as he ran through the back legs of the Death Tiger, He rammed against the left front leg this time firing his cannons to permanently damage the joint, "That should slow him down."

"Wolf, try and get up to his back again, Irvine and I will try and keep his attention on us," Van said as he ran out in front of the limping tiger and opened fire with everything he had.

Irvine circled the blood red Zoid and fired mainly at the lower leg joints and shoulders. Wolf came around to the back and leapt up just as one of the back legs gave out from heavy shelling, he landed right where he had before, this time he fired the his sniper rifles at the neck area.

The Dibison and Gordos opened fire from underneath the Zoid, Van jumped the Blade Liger up on the Death Tiger's back and opened fire using the blade mounted cannons and underside mounted cannons.

"I think were gonna get it if he ever wakes up to us being here," Van said as he continued to fire on the cockpit area.

Inside the Death Tiger there were small explosions from computers being blown out. Razor was bleeding from several areas, a few wounds from shattering glass, and a big cut from his hair line to his eyebrow was letting blood seep into his right eye.

"That is enough!" the man screamed as he launched the huge Zoid forward throwing Van and Wolf from their positions on top, and almost trampling Thomas and Daniel.

"Should we go after him?" Irvine asked already turning to do so.

"I can't keep up, his launch away took out one of my legs," Daniel said as he limped back towards the base as the others went after the Death Tiger.

Wolf glared through his canopy screen, his eyes still red as blood as he brought his Konig to its feet before launching into a dead run only his hatred was filling his mind now the anger had long abated. The Lightning Siax, Blade Liger and Dibison took off close behind their black haired friend as he took off running after the Death Tiger they seemed hard pressed to keep up with the Konig.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

An hour later the team had caught up to the limping Death Tiger.

"Wow, that limp really is slowing him down," Van said as he practically flew the Blade Liger into a position to open fire on the back legs.

"Yeah, I want you guys to back me up on this, just keep him in a slow crawl and I'll deal with him," Wolf calmly said over the video link with the three other pilots showing them this red eyed version of himself for the first time he was aware of.

"Thomas, follow any order he gives, we will too," Van said as he began firing on the Death Tiger.

"Thomas, Megalomax his big behind," Wolf ordered over the radio link.

The Megalomax fired and hit its mark dead on, causing major damage to both of the rear legs and the venting system for the CPC.

"That will slow him down even more," Thomas said confidently as he continued to fire with the main cannons of his Dibison.

The Konig Wolf bounded forwards and jumped back on to the Death Tiger, this time he went straight for the head with all both sniper barrels blazing and the claws and teeth ready to dig in.

"Alright Razor, THIS IS ALL I CAME FOR!" Wolf screamed as he landed the Zoid directly on the Death Tigers head and unloaded all his rage as he tore through the armor using the strike claws unloading every ounce of hatred onto the Zoid.

The Death Tiger fell to the ground as Wolf continued his brutal assault. Van had taken full advantage and used the blades to inflict serious damage to the remaining legs. Irvine was following suit and firing near the Zoid core, and making some progress on reaching it with Thomas's help in the Dibison and Van's as well once the legs were taken out.

Wolf had turned the Death Tiger's head armor into scrap metal and was trying to get through the mechanical shell that was left. Sparks flew from everywhere around Razor who was beginning to panic as the Konig Wolf's claws were getting closer and closer to him. The particle generator on the back of the Death Tiger had been torn to shreds but he had managed to charge enough for a single shot, and he was going to take it.

"Death Tiger, prepare to fire the Charged Particle Cannon," Razor said panic clear in his voice.

"Wolf get out of there, he's firing the CPC!" Van screamed as he watched the cannon charge for its final shot.

The Death tiger turned towards the three Zoids on the ground and let loose the charged particle beam. The three moved fast and managed to get the shields up just before it hit them.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Wolf screamed as he took the final swipe at the head of the Death Tiger.

The black haired pilot had made it through the armor only to see an already crispy Razor sitting in the seat, the heat caused by the busted vents in the tail fried him alive.

"The Death Tiger is without pilot, get to the Zoid core before it can recover," Wolf called out as the others began to open fire again as some how the Tiger managed to stand on what was left of its legs.

Back at the base Daniel's Gordos was being repaired, as he watched the fight within the control room with Fiona, the two colonels and Moonbay.

"Get me a line to Wolf," Daniel said as he walked to the center of the room.

"What is it Daniel, I'm a little busy at the moment," Wolf said as he continued to dig through the remaining armor of the Death Tiger.

"Look bro, I don't know if you noticed or not but there is a hole in the armor on the underside from my cannons. You get to that hole you can get a shot at the Zoid core, I had nearly reached it when Razor took off," his blonde brother finished seeing a touch of relief on his older brother's face.

Fiona stood there praying for her husband and friends, Moonbay held her in a comforting way.

"Van, Thomas get under this beastie and open up that hole," Wolf ordered, "Irvine, you and I will keep it from moving as much as possible," he added as he jumped the Konig Wolf down in front of the Death Tiger and opened fire, Irvine stepped up and began firing as well.

"This thing can barely stand what makes you think it's going to move?" Irvine shouted half sarcastically as he opened fire anyway.

"Let's go Thomas, we've got to stop this beastie," Van said as he launched the Blade Liger towards the under belly of the Death Tiger.

"Right behind you," Thomas called out following behind in his Dibison.

"Irvine, we'll aim for non vital areas from here on, we don't want it falling on our team," Wolf said calmly showing his eyes were beginning to turn back to their original deep blue, "Besides we're here because we can't fight close range, like they can."

"You got it, but if it falls it may not be our fault, that back right looks like it's about to give," Irvine said with a near exhausted tone.

Back at the base Daniel watched on as his brother and friends put their lives on the line, wishing he could be there. Fiona walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Please tell me they will come back from this," She said with a voice deep concern for all who were involved.

"If Wolf has to give his life to keep them safe he will, but I don't think it will come to that," Daniel said as his voice shook at the thought.

"All we can do now is pray that they get to the Zoid core before the Death Tiger can recover," Colonel Herman said as he watched the four of them.

"Pteras pilot, be careful out there we don't need you in the fray," Schubaltz said, a yes sir reply was heard but nothing more.

"We have reached the core area, we still have some obstructions, we can't get a clean shot in," Van said as he tried to line up a shot with the Core of the Death Tiger.

"Move out, I'm coming in to clear the obstruction," Wolf called over the radio as the Konig launched into a dead run towards the front legs of the blood red Zoid.

The Konig Wolf dove under the Zoid as the other two moved out of the way. Wolf then jumped and rolled the Zoid in mid air while charging the electron claws, hoping it would give him enough to clear a shot path to the Death Tiger's Zoid core. The claws impacted with the metal that was in the way and bent it out of the way.

"EVERY BODY CLEAR OUT, THIS BIG CAT IS GOING UP!" Wolf screamed sounding more excited than he had when they'd started the fight as he landed and aimed the sniper rifles directly at the core of the huge Zoid over him.

"We are out of the area, do it," Van called as the group ran.

Wolf fired two or three rounds directly at the Zoid's core and ran like wild fire was on his tail.

The Death Tiger exploded and the area around it then disappeared in a veil of white light. Three Zoids, the Dibison, Blade Liger and Lightning Siax, stood tall and proud as their pilots shielded their eyes from the blinding light and growling in discomfort, the Zoids themselves growling and pawing the ground ready for the next round.

"Where is the Konig Wolf?" Irvine asked still shielding his eyes.

"I'm over here big guy," Wolf responded calmly, his eyes completely back to their normal blue, with his Zoid's back turned to the now fading light.

They all looked towards the Death Tiger's corpse; all that was left was a few pieces of scrap metal and part of a leg.

Base Two Hours later

The celebration was in full swing, Champagne quarks were being popped, confetti was flying everywhere, and people were dancing to a beat blaring from speakers. Fiona, Van, Irvine, Moonbay, Thomas, Wolf and Daniel were all celebrating together on the dance floor just having fun.

"Lieutenant Novis, a word with you please," Colonel Herman said before turning to walk away.

Wolf followed closely as his commanding officer lead them out of the party area into a long empty hallway and stopped.

"Wolf, I would like to congratulate you on your victory over the Death Tiger," Herman said without turning around.

At that moment the group the black haired Lieutenant had been dancing with along with Colonel Schubaltz came into the hallway.

"Thank you, sir, might I speak freely?" Wolf asked as he stepped around and faced Herman.

"Certainly Captain," Herman replied with a smile on his face.

"Sir I believe…. Wait, huh," Wolf cut himself off when the 'captain' part of that statement hit him, "Sir, did I just hear that correctly?"

"You certainly did Captain," Karl said with a chuckle.

When it finally stuck that he was being promoted Wolf jumped ten feet in the air and started dancing around in the hallway, Blaze sweat dropped at his master's child like behavior, when Wolf finally realizing where he was he immediately stopped.

"Forgive my celebrations sir," He said snapping to attention and saluting.

"No Problem," Herman said laughing a little. A few days later the promotion was official for both Captain Wolf Novis, and his brother now Lieutenant Daniel Novis.

"Captain Mike Wolfgang Novis and Lieutenant Daniel Mark Novis, My sons," Julie Novis said to herself while standing on a balcony overlooking a small garden.

"Has a nice ring to it doesn't it mom?" Wolf asked standing behind his mother after the ceremony, Blaze at his side and Daniel beside them with his girlfriend Samantha.

'_Maybe now I can have a little peace of mind,' _the black haired man thought with a small smile, '_I still can't feel anything negative, but for now that's just fine.'_

Fin


End file.
